Kroger, Target Scanning Coupon DataBar

MICHAEL GARRY

CINCINNATI — Kroger here has implemented scanning of the GS1 DataBar on coupons at two divisions—its Smith’s division in Utah and its Cincinnati division—encompassing about 230 stores, said Greg Menz, IT-senior director.

Kroger expects to be fully implemented across all divisions by the end of September, he said.

Meanwhile, Target, Minneapolis, which operates 252 SuperTarget outlets and 300 stores with an expanded food selection, along with 1.300 general merchandise stores with some food, is already capable of scanning the coupon DataBar chainwide, said Joe Spreitzer, Target’s senior manager, supply chain technology.

However, Target still needs to adjust its software to process complex coupon offers such as buy two, get one free, he said. Menz and Spreitzer provided details on their DataBar processing capabilities earlier this month at U Connect 2010, sponsored by GS1 US and VICS.

Retailers will be expected to scan and process the DataBar on coupons next January when manufacturers are slated to begin dropping the traditional UPC-A code on coupons.

No problems are being reported by the Kroger stores that have implemented DataBar scanning, Menz said, although only about 6% of DataBars are actually being scanned. The reason for the low percentage is that cashiers are not being trained to scan the DataBar rather than the UPC-A code; they can scan either.

In January that will become moot as the UPC-A begins to disappear. “It’s not worth training cashiers now,” Menz said.

Kroger is also able to scan the produce DataBar throughout its divisions, said Menz. However, only 4% of the produce DataBars are actually being scanned because for many items, Kroger does not have a GTIN (global trade item number) in its POS file that corresponds to the DataBar. That’s because many produce suppliers are lax about providing Kroger with the GTIN information, he said.

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